Let’s Blame it on Pahrump
by bushlaboo
Summary: What’s Jordan thinking when Danny leaves her chewing on her sandwich? [Edited for typos.]


**Author's Note**: I know that there is absolutely no way I can do Danny and Jordan or Sorkin justice, but I had to try because I love this pairing so.

Jordan had felt something spark with Danny the fist time she met him. The circumstances of that encounter weren't the best. Even though it had been in a fancy hotel room she'd still gone there to basically blackmail him and Matt back to Studio 60. Though she managed add a dollop of class to her offer it didn't make the move any less sleazy. Jordan hated that feeling. After spending months married to a man that inspired that feeling on a daily basis, she had promised herself that she'd do her best never to be put into a situation that made her feel that way again.

It hadn't mattered that it was best thing for the show and for NBS, she had still felt nauseous under her cool exterior. She knew for a fact that neither Danny nor Shelly had noticed her self-recrimination. They were both too busy contemplating the effects of her offer.

Standing in the hallway at the studio chewing on a sandwich that now felt like sawdust in mouth Jordan knew this moment shouldn't have felt this unexpected. She and Danny had picked up a quick rapport. A shorthand really, because they understood and respected each other. That hadn't surprised her. She spent her whole life winning people over and the moment Danny told her that _"you look like one of them, but you talk like one of us,"_ the impossible had happened. Danny Tripp had accepted her, a network executive, as an equal.

She thought it would end there with them as equals. They'd work together and perhaps even one day become friends. Trusted friends even, but the tables had turned on her when he got her _Nations_. He hadn't wanted to help her with Trevor Laughlin. In his direct yet charming style had informed her that HBO was right place, the better place for the show.

His refusal had stung a bit. NBS wasn't everything Jordan wanted it to be, but that's why she was there. To make a better network. She remembered thinking: _how can I do that if I can't get quality programs?_ Danny hadn't let her get that question out. He fell back on his Matt excuse, the one he always used whenever he wanted to get out of discussion, and she let him because she'd been disappointed. She'd proven herself to him, but obviously not enough.

At that moment her idea of trusted friends went up in smoke and she started hoping for respectful colleagues.

Then they went surprising each other. She turned down Martin Sykes cold and in return Danny used his "street cred" to get her _Nations_. He hadn't done it for NBS or Trevor Laughlin, but for her. It had been the grandest gesture she ever received. So grand that it actually made her giddy.

Danny had been so off-handed about it. Almost flippant, as if he handed out heart's desires everyday. It was less complicated to take him at face value, so she had. Her personal life was exploding around her and the last thing she needed to be thinking about was Danny Tripp.

Then he came back from Pahrump concerned for her job and wanting to help her. He told her she was winning and she believed him. She liked her job and wanted to keep it. She wanted to be involved in the creative process. The timing, however, turned out to be the worst of her life. Just after Shelly set up the interview she found out she was pregnant and her year turned into nine months.

Not that motherhood equated death. The press and her slimy ex-husband got it wrong. She liked kids and wanted a couple of her own. Just not with him. Or even Mr. Great Western Mutual. Of course going from seeing him and being told he didn't wanted to be involved at all straight to her interview had been a mistake. It was too late to cancel though and doing so would have only caused more speculation.

Instead she blew the interview. At least by TMG board member standards. According to Danny and Dilbert27 she'd been funny and correct in a lot of her statements. She hadn't had time to appreciate that before the world spun around her and she felt Danny catch her.

She recalled feeling safe in arms. Protected. That was until he said he'd go get the nurse and a B-12 shot. Desperate to keep that from happening she told Danny she was pregnant. He took the news in stride and somehow ended up inviting himself to her doctor's appointment. Even though she thought it was odd that he was there, she was actually glad to have the company. Until she heard him say, "We're having a baby?"

There was such excitement on his face, such tenderness. It caused something to tug at her heart. She wanted that for her child – a father as ecstatic about meeting them as she herself was, but Jordan knew that it wasn't in the cards. She was going to be a single mother and she'd been adjusting to that fact. Except now Danny was offering her … Jordan wasn't sure exactly what. She played his words over again in her mind. "I've been married twice before, and I'm a recovering cocaine addict, and I know that's no woman's dream of a man, or of a father; nonetheless, I believe I'm falling in love with you. If you want to run, I understand, but you better get a head start 'cause I'm coming for you, Jordan."

He _believed_ he was falling in love with her? It was the word believed that kept her thoughts circling. It sounded like he wanted her and her child. It sounded like he wanted to be with her, to make a family with her, but how exactly did you do that with someone you only _believed_ to be falling in love with?

And why exactly was he falling in love with her now? Was this about saving her or really loving her? Of course they'd only known each other for twelve weeks, so if he'd come out and said he loved her, Jordan wouldn't have taken him seriously. He might have loved what he'd seen of her, but there was so much more to her. Maybe saying that he believed that he loved her was best. It meant that he liked her and hopefully respected her, but could she really chance getting to know him and love him only for Danny to realize that he believed wrong?

"You missed the end of the show," Jordan heard Jack say. "Uh?' she sounded looking up to meet his gaze.

"Jordan are you okay? You look pale," he reported as he took a hold of her arm, as if he was trying to steady her.

"The sandwich disagreed with me," she replied thrusting the half-eaten concoction into his hand before turning and rushing towards the ladies room.

"Do you need me to call someone?" Jack called after her.

"No," she answered as she ducked into the restroom. Jordan hurried past the cracked mirror and right into one of the stalls, locking it, before she sunk down to the toilet. Taking deep breaths she ordered herself not to panic. However, that meant not thinking about Danny, which was impossible.

She could still feel his presence and hear his words. They hung in air around her as they would if she was in a comic strip. There was no escaping them and if she was truthful with herself she didn't want to. All because of that damn spark. All because she wanted Danny Tripp to like her because she respected his work. It just wasn't suppose to go beyond friendship. At least not when she was danger of losing her job and pregnant with another man's child.

Jordan didn't want the great love story her OBGYN joked about. It was too messy. There was too much at stake. She wanted a simple and straightforward romance of the "boy meets girl and they fall in love" variety with minimal complications. Considering where her life was at the moment, was asking for something to be easy really too much?

The quickest way to simplify everything was to tell Danny in no uncertain words that she wasn't interested and that she rather not have him "come for her" as he put it. Jordan only had one problem with that. It would be a lie. She was attracted to Danny and if circumstances weren't what they were he wouldn't have to chase her, she'd meet him halfway.

She couldn't risk that now … could she?

Jordan heard a knock and then the door to the restroom opened with Danny calling her name. "I heard you weren't feeling so great," he said entering the room and Jordan was grateful for the stall separating them. Looking at Danny now wouldn't help matters. "I hope," he paused. "I hope it wasn't anything I said."

Suddenly the stall didn't make much of a difference because Jordan could picture Danny's face. The hesitation in voice gave all the cues she needed to know what he looked like now. "It's wasn't," she assured him. "At least not all of it."

"Okay," he said shuffling closer to her stall. "Which part did you have trouble with?"

Staring down at her shoes Jordan took a moment to decide how to answer him. How much was she really willing to risk? And what would be the greater risk in the long end – exploring her feelings for Danny or not?

A year to live Jordan, she reminded herself. If you only had a year … "Believe."

"What?" Danny asked clearly surprised by her response.

Unlocking the stall with a quick twist Jordan pulled it open. Looking up into Danny's face she clarified, "You _believe_ you're falling in love with me. _Believe_ Danny."

He eyed her quizzically for a moment. "I didn't miss use the word."

Jordan threw up her arms in vexation. "Either you're falling in love with me or you're not. There is no believe about it."

A slight smile touched his lips. "Fair enough. I _am_ falling in love with you. Is that better?" he inquired.

"No," she replied swinging the door to the stall shut. Jordan locked again just in case he tried to open it. "Of all the times and places you could have chosen to make a declaration like that!"

"I chose the hallway, you picked the bathroom," Danny remarked.

"Now isn't the time to be glib Danny," she warned.

"It's kind of hard not to be with a yellow plastic door between us."

"You don't need to remind me how absurd this situation is," Jordan grumbled. "I'm living it after all."

"We both are," he reminded her.

"Yeah, but it's all your fault," she shot back.

"Actually, you barged your way into my life," Danny countered.

Jordan had no ready comeback for that. She had entered his hotel room unannounced and uninvited. So she was partially, but _only_ partially, responsible for all this.

"Any chance of you coming out of there?" he asked after a few minutes of silence.

"No," she answered. Jordan heard Danny mutter something but she wasn't sure what before he sat down on the floor. "Is that a good idea?"

"Probably not," he replied, "but if you're not leaving then I'm not leaving."

"I might – never mind, that would be juvenile," Jordan commented, stopping herself from saying something she would regret. "Look Danny, I don't want to have this conversation in a bathroom. In fact, I really don't want to be having this conversation."

"At all or just now?" he asked worry evident in his voice.

Jordan sighed. "Honestly, your little speech will probably go down as one of the most romantic moments of my life. A bit off-kilter, but romantic. And if you would have said it to me a week ago I wouldn't have let you walk away, but things are different now."

"Not so much," Danny argued.

"I'm pregnant with another man's child Danny."

"So? You were pregnant last week as well."

"Yeah, but I didn't know. Neither did you," Jordan pointed out.

"I didn't say that I was falling in love with you because of the baby," Danny assured her.

"Maybe."

"Hey." Danny stuck his hand under the door and took a hold of her ankle. "I didn't," he said squeezing her ankle gently. Reassuringly.

"Okay," Jordan replied lamely.

"You don't sound like you believe me Jordan." There was a hint of sadness in his voice.

"The thing is, I do, and it only complicates things more. I'm a package deal now Danny."

"I know," he responded. "Just so you know I happen to like deals."

"Trust me, I'm not much of a bargain."

"You're selling yourself short Jordan."

"So were you," she stated, "because believe me, you're more of dream then you realize."

"Then why is this door between us again?" Danny asked.

"Because good things scare me," she answered.

"Trust me, I'm not that good."

The way he said it had a grin spreading across to Jordan's face. "That's a relief," she told him opening the stall door. "Hi."

"Hi," Danny returned her greeting with quirky grin.

"Danny?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm not running because I believe I'm falling in love with you too."

His brows came together. "You're right. Believe is a horrible word choice."

Jordan laughed. "I am falling in love with you," she rectified before leaning down to touch her lips to his.


End file.
